Ramesh Somani: Who’s the first person you’ll call if you’re stuck in a remote location?
Ram Charan: I’ll probably just watch YouTube and figure it out myself.
RS: Best road trip you’ve ever done?
RC: A road trip to Coorg with my school friends. We stayed overnight at my farm in Bangalore and then drove down in my mother-in-law’s Land Rover Defender. Simple, relaxed, and memorable.
RS: Next road trip on your list?
RC: Ladakh! It’s been on my bucket list for the longest time. I’d love to do it with my school friends and explore areas near the Nepal border.
RS: You own horses and fast cars. Which gives you more trouble?
RC: Horses. Cars are predictable. Horses have a mind of their own, so you have to be extra careful.
RS: Have you named your horses?
RC: Yes. Kajal was used in Magadheera and Badshah was used in RRR.
The first task of the day was a 0–100–0 performance test, designed to test , reflex and concentration while handling the Audi Q8 acceleration. A coordination challenge followed, requiring balls to be thrown into a basket while the car was in motion. It sounds simple. It isn’t.
Ram Charan completed the run in 1 minute 4 seconds but failed to land a single ball, pushing his final time to 1 minute 16 seconds once penalties were added.
I fared better, though it was fun and RC used all tricks to ensure I don’t land any balls but I stopped the clock at 58 seconds and landing two balls, finishing with a final time of 1 minute 6 seconds.
A hot lap of the Autodrome would settle any remaining questions.
No jokes. No second chances.
Ram Charan clocked a 1:36. I went quicker with a 1:32. Winning wasn’t the point. It was about understanding, and respecting, the line between confidence and caution.
RS: I have to say, you were scaring me at times. Otherwise, I’d have pushed harder.
RC: For the first time, I think it was better to be careful.
RS: For a minute, nobody would say it was your first time.
RC: Even sitting there without the helmet felt like a risk.
RS: You come from a family that’s Mount Everest-level in Indian cinema. How do you cope with that legacy?
RC: I’ve always seen it as an advantage. You learn faster when you grow up with that insight. I never saw it as a disadvantage.
RS: A car has a rear-view mirror and a windshield. When the rear-view mirror is such a big legacy, how do you focus on the road ahead?
RC: Honestly, it was harder for the audience than it was for me. I never focused on the burden of legacy. That was never my priority.
RS: That’s a big responsibility, though.
RC: I didn’t think of it that way. Maybe ignorance is bliss. I stayed ignorant of that pressure and just worked.
RS: I’ve noticed you’re extremely hardworking.
RC: There are no shortcuts. In any field, hard work is the only thing that matters.
RS: How do you deal with failure?
RC: Failure does set you back. But it leads to introspection. You bounce back stronger, and you don’t repeat the same mistakes.
RS: Success is never guaranteed, even with big directors and big productions.
RC: Exactly. A film’s success is never in our hands. It’s a cumulative effort. It’s also a gamble.
RS: If life had an ABS system, what keeps you from derailing?
RC: I don’t take myself too seriously. From eight to six, I do my job religiously. After that, I switch off completely. I don’t carry my work with me.
RS: If you had to sit next to someone doing 250 kmph, who would it be?
RC: First of all, I’d rather drive than sit in the passenger seat.
RS: From the film industry?
RC: Jr. NTR!
RS: You were a great passenger today.
RC: You were a big distraction. You kept telling stories while I was trying to focus.
RS: Has becoming a father changed the way you drive or live?
RC: Completely. I take fewer risks now, especially risks without returns. Life is too precious. There’s so much to look forward to.
RS: So priorities shift.
RC: Very much. I focus more on my work and spend time with my family.
RS: In Magadheera, you waited 400 years for true love. In real life, what do you have zero patience for?
RC: I value people who love family, who are passionate about what they do, and who stand by their word. That’s very important to me.
The scores come up on screen and the competitiveness cools into laughter.
RS: You did the first segment in 1:04, with penalties taking it to 1:16. I did 58 seconds. But I’m proud of your lap time.
RC: I brought it down by eight seconds in the second lap.
RS: You’re a very good student.
RC: One hundred percent I’ll be back soon. It was fun.
It’s tempting, when you spend a day at a racetrack, to talk about lap times. About who was quicker, who braked later and who found a tenth where there really shouldn’t have been one. But that would rather miss the point.
What stays with you isn’t that the Audi Q8 is fast, because of course it is, or that Ram Charan can drive, because that becomes evident very quickly. It’s that none of it feels hurried.
Between runs, there are conversations about horses, friendships that have lasted since school, and the unglamorous business of simply turning up and doing the work. The thing about real power, whether it’s an engine, a career, or a life, is that it doesn’t need to shout. When it’s done properly, it just works.
And perhaps that’s the real takeaway from our day at the Dubai Autodrome. Speed is entertaining, certainly. But stability is far more impressive. Which, when you think about it, is rather a nice way to go about things.
